Prosecutions for September 2025
Referring Agency: Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The latest available data from the Justice Department show that during September 2025 the government reported 698 new prosecutions for these matters. Those cases were referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 2 percent over the previous month.
The comparisons of the number of defendants charged are based on case-by-case information obtained by TRAC under the Freedom of Information Act from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (see Table 1).
When monthly 2025 prosecutions of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, the number of filings was only slightly down (-1.9%). Prosecutions over the past year are still much lower than they were five years ago. Overall, the data show that prosecutions of this type are down 2.9 percent from levels reported in 2020.
Figure 1. Monthly Trends in Prosecutions
The leveling out from the levels five years ago in prosecutions for these matters is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of prosecutions of this type recorded on a month-to-month basis. Where a prosecution was initially filed in U.S. Magistrate Court and then transferred to the U.S. District Court, the magistrate filing date was used since this provides an earlier indicator of actual trends. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. The one and five-year rates of change in Table 1 and in the sections that follow are all based upon this six-month moving average. To view trends year-by-year rather than month-by-month, see TRAC's annual report series for a broader picture.
Cases were classified by prosecutors into more specific types.
The largest number of prosecutions of these matters in September 2025 was for "Weapons-Operation Triggerlock Major", accounting for 54.9 percent of prosecutions. Prosecutions were also filed for "Withheld by Govt from TRAC (FOIA challen" (19.3%), "Drugs-Drug Trafficking" (14%), "Violence-Other" (4.3%), "Drugs-Organized Crime Task Force" (2.3%). See Figure 2.
Prosecutions in U.S. Magistrate Courts
Top Ranked Lead Charges
In September 2025, 107 defendants in cases for these matters were filed in U.S. Magistrate Courts. These courts handle less serious misdemeanor cases, including what are called "petty offenses." In addition, complaints are sometimes filed in the magistrate courts before an indictment or information is entered. In these cases, the matter starts in the magistrate courts and later moves to the district court where subsequent proceedings take place.
In the magistrate courts in September the most frequently cited lead charge was Title 18 U.S.C Section 922 involving "Firearms; Unlawful acts". This was the lead charge for 57 percent of all magistrate filings in September.
Other frequently prosecuted lead charges include: "Other US Code Section" (8.4%), "08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien" (5.6%), "18 USC 1201 - Kidnaping" (5.6%), "21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" (5.6%).
Prosecutions in U.S. District Courts
In September 2025, 591 defendants in new cases for these matters were charged in the U.S. District Courts. In addition during September there were an additional 95 defendants whose cases moved from the magistrate courts to the U.S. district courts after an indictment or information was filed. The sections which follow cover both sets of cases and therefore cover all matters filed in district court during September.
Top Ranked Lead Charges
Table 2 shows the top lead charges recorded in the prosecutions of matters filed in U.S. District Court during September 2025 referred by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Lead Charge Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago 18 USC 922 - Firearms; Unlawful acts 351 1 1 1 More 21 USC 841 - Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A 87 2 2 2 More 21 USC 846 - Attempt and conspiracy 27 3 3 3 More 26 USC 5861 - Tax on Making Firearms - Prohibited acts 12 5 6 8 More 18 USC 2119 - Carjacking 10 6 9 10 More 08 USC 1326 - Reentry of deported alien 6 7 22 - More 18 USC 924 - Firearms; Penalties 6 7 7 6 More 18 USC 1201 - Kidnaping 6 7 18 15 More 18 USC 1951 - Hobbs Act 6 7 5 4 More Table 2. Top Charges Filed
"Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) was the most frequent recorded lead charge. "Firearms; Unlawful acts" (Title 18 U.S.C Section 922) was ranked 1 a year ago, while it was ranked 1 five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the lead charge "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841. "Drug Abuse Prevention & Control-Prohibited acts A" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 841 was ranked 2 a year ago, while it was ranked 2 five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846. "Attempt and conspiracy" under Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 was ranked 3 a year ago, while it was ranked 3 five years ago.
Among these top ten lead charges, the one showing the greatest increase in prosecutions — up 700 percent — compared to one year ago was Title 8 U.S.C Section 1326 that involves " Reentry of deported alien ". Compared to five years ago, the largest increase — 266.7 percent — was registered for prosecutions under " Kidnaping " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1201 ).
Again among the top ten lead charges, the one showing the sharpest decline in prosecutions compared to one year ago — down 49.2 percent — was " Attempt and conspiracy " (Title 21 U.S.C Section 846 ). Compared to five years ago, the most significant decline in prosecutions — 33.7 percent — was for filings where the lead charge was " Hobbs Act " (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1951 ).
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
In September 2025 the Justice Department's case-by-case records show that the government brought 245.8 prosecutions for every ten million people in the United States.
Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of prosecutions that are filed in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
The districts registering the largest number of prosecutions per capita for these matters last month are shown in Table 3. Districts must have at least 5 prosecutions to receive a ranking.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Okla, E 2,416 15 1 43 91 More D. C. 1,767 10 2 82 79 More W Virg, S 1,280 9 3 61 62 More Tenn, W 1,238 16 4 35 39 More Montana 1,165 11 5 17 10 More S Dakota 1,060 8 6 60 33 More Ohio, N 1,010 48 7 22 8 More Ala, M 1,003 10 8 40 69 More Ala, S 966 7 9 40 62 More N Dakota 918 6 10 64 62 More Table 3. Top 10 Districts (per ten million people)
The Eastern District of Oklahoma (Muskogee) — with 2416 prosecutions as compared with 245.8 prosecutions per ten million population in the United States — was the most active during September 2025.
The District of Washington, D.C. (Washington) ranked 2nd.
Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston) is now ranking 3rd.
Recent entrants to the top 10 list were Montana , now ranked 5th , and Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland) at 7th In the same order, these districts ranked 17th and 22nd one year ago and 10th and 8th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of prosecutions compared to one year ago — 511.1 percent — was Washington, D.C. (Washington). Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 4900 percent — was Eastern District of Oklahoma (Muskogee).
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of prosecutions — 20.5 percent — was Southern District of Alabama (Mobile). But over the past five years, Montana showed the largest drop — 24.4 percent.
Top Ranked District Judges
At any one time, there are about 680 federal District Court judges working in the United States. The judges recorded with the largest number of new crime cases of this type during September 2025 are shown in Table 4.
Judge Count Rank White, Ronald A. Okla, E 14 1 More Love, John D. Texas, E 12 2 More Bell, Kenneth Davis, Sr. N Car, W 11 3 More Adams, John R. Ohio, N 8 4 More Chambers, Robert Charles W Virg, S 8 4 More Parker, Thomas Lee Robinson Tenn, W 7 6 More Counts, Walter David, III Texas, W 7 6 More Mendoza, Carlos Eduardo Fla, M 6 8 More Hicks, S. Maurice, Jr. La, W 6 8 More Welte, Peter David N Dakota 6 8 More Nugent, Donald C. Ohio, N 6 8 More Pearson, Benita Yalonda Ohio, N 6 8 More McDonough, Travis Randall Tenn, E 6 8 More Table 4. Top Ten Judges
A total of 7 out of the "top ten" judges were in districts which were in the top ten with the largest number of filings per capita, while the remaining 6 judges were from other districts. (Because of ties, there were a total of 13 judges in the "top ten" rankings.)
Judge Ronald A. White in the Eastern District of Oklahoma (Muskogee) ranked 1st with 14 defendants in cases.
Judge John D. Love in the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) ranked 2nd with 12 defendants in cases.
Judge Kenneth Davis Bell, Sr. in the Western District of North Carolina (Asheville) ranked 3rd with 11 defendants in cases.
Report Generated: December 8, 2025
